Police are reviewing unsolved murders of prostitutes and other young women in East Anglia as it was confirmed last night that a third woman found dead in woods near Ipswich was a prostitute.

Detectives are reluctant to talk about a serial killer, but there is real fear in Ipswich, especially among the town’s prostitutes.

Officers are looking at various cases including that of the schoolgirl Vicky Hall, 17, who was killed and dumped naked in a water-filled ditch near Felixstowe in 1999.

As the police investigation took on a new urgency, the parents of one of the prostitutes whose bodies were discovered last week appealed for help in finding her killer.

Gemma Adams, 25, was found in the same stretch of waterway south west of Ipswich as Tania Nicol, 19.

Brian and Gail Adams released pictures from their family album to show that their daughter Gemma led a life that was not adequately described by the term “prostitute”.

The photographs, taken at birthday and Christmas parties and on family holidays, show a happy toddler maturing into a young woman. But something went uncontrollably wrong in the life of the girl who grew up attending Brownies, rescuing puppies and learning to ride a pony. As a teenager Ms Adams became hooked on heroin and turned to prostitution to feed her addiction.

Mr and Mrs Adams, who raised their daughter in a comfortable home in the village of Kesgrave, near Ipswich, did not know she was a prostitute until she was reported missing on November 15.

“I don’t want people to think of her only as a prostitute,” Mr Adams said. “The Gemma we want to remember was a loving, beautiful and wonderful girl. It was the nightmare of drug addiction which drove her to work on the streets. We are going through hell trying to come to terms with it. It has been shock after shock.

“She was good company, intelligent. If you asked her to do anything, she would do it well. We never had any rows with her at home. One of her teachers described her as an ‘ordinary intelligent girl from a nice family’ and that’s exactly what she was.”

After leaving Kesgrave High School, Gemma completed a one-year GNVQ course in health and social care at Suffolk College, Ipswich.

Mr Adams said that her life had changed for the worse when she got into the “wrong crowd”. He said that when she was growing up she had been “bright and bubbly and full of fun”. But this changed in her later teen years. “I had a strong suspicion all was not well and that her life was degenerating into a fairly chaotic state. But despite numerous attempts to make contact to try and help her resolve her problems we were unable to,” he said.

“We’ve been in a nightmare and even closing your eyes does not give you relief. You close your eyes and it’s still there. Normally, if you have a nightmare, you wake up and the pain is gone, but this nightmare is ongoing.”

Mr and Ms Adams described how they had taken their daughter to see doctors and the community drug rehabilitation team to try to wean her off her habit. But the pull of the drugs proved stronger than her family ties.

Mr Adams said that she was unable to hold down a job adding: “She ended up getting the sack. She kept in touch with us on an infrequent basis. In the last two years we did not see much of her. It’s just heroin hell. If any parents have any suspicion their child is taking drugs, I would say tackle it head on and try to get help at the earliest opportunity because I wouldn’t want to see anyone else go through what Gemma has been through.”

Mrs Adams said that her daughter knew that her parents were ready and willing to help her. “She always knew she had somewhere to go. We think she got involved in this way of life and completely cut us off because she did not want us to know what was going on and the depth of the problems she had. Gemma probably wanted to keep us away from what she was doing. All our thoughts are that Gemma is now at peace and she hasn’t got to wake up in turmoil again.”

An inquest hearing last week heard that Jon Simpson, Ms Adams’s boyfriend of ten years, was a heroin addict. He reported her missing when she failed to answer his calls on the night of her disappearance.

Friends of the two women have been leaving floral tributes at places associated with their disappearances.

A bunch of flowers left outside a car showroom on West End Road, Ipswich, where Ms Adams was last seen, showed that it was not only her parents who were shocked by her life.

The accompanying card, signed by Laura, a former schoolfriend, said: “I can’t believe you’ve gone Gem — God it hurts so much. I never in my worst nightmares thought your life would turn out like this.

“I thought you’d be having such a good life — a life you deserved. How blind was I. Our friendship meant the world to me. I loved you so much. When we drifted apart, I felt like I had lost my right arm.”

Other flowers in tribute to Gemma were left outside the BMW dealership in West End Road, Ipswich, where she was last seen. One said: “To a beautiful friend with a beautiful smile. Ne’er forgotten, live, Terri XXX.”

Forensic science tests are being carried out on a pair of Nike white and chrome trainers that police believe Gemma wore on the night she disappeared. The shoes were found in the yard of a tyre and exhaust fitting company, around a mile from Ipswich’s red light area.

Police return to cold case in hunt for more clues to latest killings

Police are reviewing several unsolved murders in East Anglia to determine if there are any links to the deaths of Tania Nicol and Gemma Adams:

Yesterday The body of another woman is found in woodland at Nacton. Police confirm she was a prostitute and comment on “striking similarities” between the murders of Ms Nicol and Ms Adams

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